Getir Completes Acquisition of Ahold Delhaize’s FreshDirect

Ultrafast grocery delivery company to accelerate growth in U.S.

12/18/2023

By acquiring FreshDirect, Getir will accelerate the growth of its fast delivery business in the United States.

Turkey-based Getir, the ultrafast grocery delivery company, has officially acquired FreshDirect, a U.S.-based online grocery company, from Ahold Delhaize USA. The agreement to sell FreshDirect was revealed last month by Ahold Delhaize. After a thorough review, Ahold Delhaize decided to sell the delivery company to focus investments in its omnichannel businesses.

Founded in New York City in 2002, FreshDirect was acquired by Ahold Delhaize USA in January 2021. In line with its name, FreshDirect works with agricultural and food producers to bring fresh products directly to its customers. Its business model is based on the scheduled delivery of orders to homes or offices at certain times of the day. With a fleet of 400 trucks and a 640,000-square-foot production and distribution center in the Bronx, FreshDirect serves the greater New York tri-state area.

The acquisition will reportedly create significant synergies between Getir and FreshDirect. Getir's technological power will improve FreshDirect's technological infrastructure, and FreshDirect customers will receive their orders much faster with Getir's approach. Getir operates in five countries (Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States), delivering groceries within 10-15 minutes.

With FreshDirect's wide product portfolio of high-quality food products and broad customer base, Getir will help accelerate the growth of its fast delivery business in the United States. In March 2022, Getir raised $768 million in its Series E funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to $11.8 billion and cementing its position as a “decacorn” — a company with a value exceeding $10 billion.

Meanwhile, as Ahold Delhaize prepares for its own growth, the Netherlands-based company has raised free cash flow guidance for 2023. The company now expects free cash flow in an approximate range of US $2.4 billion to US $2.6 billion (previously: a range from US $2.2 billion to US $2.4 billion); underlying EPS slightly below 2022 levels (previously around 2022 levels); and net capital expenditures of approximately US $2.6 billion (previously US $2.7 billion).

Ahold Delhaize will hold its Strategy Day in the Netherlands in May 2024 to lay out its next phase of growth and value creation for the company.

Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of Zaandam, Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize, operates more than 2,000 stores across 23 states and is No. 10 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named the company one of its Retailers of the Century and its 10 Most Sustainable Grocers.